Svetlana was lounging in her prison cell. Yes, lounging, because nothing got Svetlana worked up.
She should could plot revenge anywhere, so why not here? The only thing that bothered her, was that after meeting her youngest sister, something stirred in her heart. After years.
When Tia had turned twenty, Svetlana completely shifted her focus to avenging her dead father. Since then, it had been a decade that Svetlana had thought of anything else. But she hadn't gone into a fever craze. No, she was cool, collected and smart about it. Except that currently the Oberois were flourishing while she was rotting in prison.
Svetlana didn't want to dwell on that thought. She will find a way out of prison, like she had found a way to make prison hospitable. Or at least, hospitable enough to live.
A prison guard broke into her thoughts. "You, chalo, there are some people here to meet you" she announced.
That puzzled Svetlana, who would come to meet her?
The guard took her through some circuitous route to some room, which was cut off from the rest of the prison. Svetlana went inside. The room was empty save for a table and three chairs. Svetlana sat down on the chair opposite the other two. She assumed that a couple of police officers would be coming to interrogate her. About what now?
But surprisingly it was her newly found sister.
"If you are here to tell me to drop my planning against the Oberois, then that is not happening, little sister" said Svetlana.
"Well, since you are not going to listen to me, I've got someone else to talk to you" said Soumya, as she sat down opposite Svetlana.
"And who do you think will change my mind?" snorted Svetlana.
"Me. I hope" said Gauri, as she entered the room, after Soumya.
"You!" Svetlana shrieked as she sat up erect. "You sent me here on a false charge, and you think you will convince me to do anything? Fat chance"
"Calm down, lets not say no so soon" said Gauri, as she sat down opposite Svetlana.
Svetlana pursed her lips but kept her peace.
"I am curious. Why are you so hell bent on getting revenge on this family? Because you lost your father? But didn't he end his own life? Even if you blame the Oberois for this, isn't it getting too late now? You tried so many times, for years, if you've been failing again and again, don't you think its a signal from God that you give up on your vendetta?" said Gauri.
Svetlana laughed out loud, and for long.
"Signal from god? You are every bit the village bumpkin I thought you were. Only fools believe in God. You had a stroke of luck getting the better of me, but soon I will re-emerge to take you down" said Svetlana.
"Me too? But I am unconnected to the Oberois. My only connection, is my sister, Annika Jiji, who is married into this family. I assume you've been keeping up with news from prison" said Gauri.
Svetlana smirked. At least, this girl didn't underestimate her.
"You might be unconnected to the Oberois but you did help them. So, you'll have to pay the price for that. I will ruin the Oberois, and that includes you, as well as your sister" said Svetlana.
Soumya was distraught. She was ready to give up, but Gauri held her hand, under the table.
"Will you? And how will you ruin people, who are already ruined?" asked Gauri, softly.
That caught Svetlana unawares.
"You've been keeping an eye on the Oberois for years, right? Do they look happy to you, Sultana? if you were after Tej Uncleji for money, I would perhaps think you didn't notice, but you were here for revenge, you must have observed them keenly, then surely you must have noticed that no one in this family is happy" said Gauri.
Svetlana couldn't stop the acknowledgment from flickering in her eyes.
"You wanted to take revenge from Tej Uncleji and Shakti Uncleji, right? Well, what revenge will you take, when life itself has taken its revenge. Tej Uncleji married for love, but you know the truth of his marriage better than anyone, and Shakti Uncleji? His marriage was more of an arrangement. Neither of them were ever, truly happy in their family lives. You hate the Oberois, because they deprived you and your sisters of your childhood? Well, look at the Oberoi kids, their lives were just as bad. Shivaay bhaiyaa grew up thinking everything in life is a deal, Omkaraji, Rudy bhaiyaa and Prinku grew up without the affection of their father. Pinky auntyji and Tej Uncleji saw their sons, not as their kids, but as their pawns, pawns to be seated on the throne of the Oberoi empire. How can you hurt Bade bhaiyaa when his own mother kidnapped him to separate him from the person who loved him selflessly? How much more can you hurt Omkaraji who was pushed into drugs, because of his father's affair with you? How much more can you hurt Rudy bhaiyaa and Prinku who look up to Bade bhaiyaa as their father figure, instead of their real father? These people are already a hurt and broken in different ways, some more than the others. But why am I telling you all this? You know their family history better than I do, or ever can. You can't break anything which is already broken, Sultana" said Gauri.
Svetlana had listened to her quietly. She didn't want to concede to Gauri, but the girl had a point.
"You wanted to take revenge, Sultana? But they were already in a bad state before you came in their lives. The Oberoi kids were destined to grow up watching their parents and uncles and aunts fight between themselves, and you? You sacrificed so many years of your life, for nothing. You are turning forty this year, aren't you Sultana? Sorry, I know it is not nice to talk of a womaniya's age, but I think that hardly matters to you, does it? You were seventeen when your father passed away. Didn't the teenage Sultana, have some other dreams, some other ambitions for herself? Smart girl like you, you could've done so much with your life. Instead you first spend it taking care of your sister, which is understandable, but then wasting it away on this revenge? And for what? You wasted ten years of your life with Tej uncleji, gave up......everything, for him to return to his wife, while you are here behind bars?" said Gauri.
Her words were like a slap to Svetlana's face.
She knew what Gauri meant when she said 'everything'. Svetlana became Tej's 'mistress', she gave up her body for her revenge as well. And where had that got her? In prison, while Tej had gone back to his wife.
"Well, then I have a bigger reason to ruin the Oberois. They not only took away my father, but also almost a decade of my life" said Svetlana, trying hard to remain composed.
"They didn't take away your life Sultana, you did" said Gauri simply.
Svetlana had had enough.
She never felt this kind of anger course through her. She got up and tried to launch herself on Gauri, to attack her, to make her stop, to shut her up. But she had underestimated the little girl.
Gauri reacted before Sultana could attack her. She slapped Sultana hard.
Soumya watched this like a shocked spectator.
"Kaha tha na, ek jhaap mein deewaar pe sat jaaibe?" (Told you, in one slap I could slam you to the wall?) said Gauri.
It was difficult to see which face showed more hatred, which pair of eyes were more angry.
A few minutes later Svetlana calmed down and sat down. Gauri and Soumya followed suit.
"So.....what do you want from me?" asked Svetlana, finally.
"I spoke to Annika jiji and Shivaay bhaiyaa last night, and we figured out something. It was Tia who locked in Annika Jiji in the fridge to freeze her to death, it was your mother and you, who planned a shooter to kill Annika Jiji but bade bhaiyaa took the bullet instead, you abducted and kept Dushyant hostage and made it look like he was dead, and you tried to kill Jahnvi Maaji in a car accident. You know how many years in prison that is?" asked Gauri.
"Doesn't matter, you can never prove any of this" said Svetlana.
"Can't we? Annika Jiji and Shivaay bhaiyaa brought Dushyant back to Tia, you think she won't return their favor and support them in court? Look at the irony Sultana, you tried to kill many times, but the one time you end up in prison is when you try to 'kill' me" smiled Gauri.
"Which I didn't, as you very know, since you framed me" said Svetlana.
"Well, someone had to beat you at your own game. But enough talking. The attempt to murder me will easily land you in prison for ten years. You are still in the under-trial stage, and evidence is circumstantial. We can get you off, if you agree to our conditions" said Gauri.
Svetlana silently communicated that Gauri continue.
"First, you return that video of Omkaraji, and all its copies. Second, you take your mother, who needs you, and leave this city. You can settle anywhere in the world, do whatever you want, but not return to Mumbai. And third, you will agree to give up your revenge against the Oberois and not trouble them in anyway. If you violate any of these conditions, the Oberois will put you back in prison, on charges of multiple attempts to murder. Here is the contract" said Gauri.
Svetlana read the contract carefully.
"Svetlana di, what are you thinking? Give up this revenge against the Oberois. Just stop it, half your life is already done with, don't let the rest of your life waste away in this useless pursuit of revenge. And I am saying this on behalf of both me and Tia Di" Soumya pleaded.
Svetlana looked back at the last ten years of her life.
Only one mantra she had repeated over the years: Oberois ki barbaadi (ruin of the Oberois), but the person who looked ruined right now was she, herself.
"Fine, I will sign the contract. When will you release me from this hell?" asked Svetlana.
"Today itself, Jahnvi maaji, has got the bail papers made, on the off chance that you would agree" said Gauri.
"Jahnvi agreed to all this?" said Svetlana, surprised.
"Of course, do you think I have the power or reach to get a contract drawn up or bail arranged?" said Gauri.
"No, I thought, maybe it was Tej...well, never mind. I'll sign the contract now" and saying so Svetlana signed the contract.
Gauri could judge from Sultana's voice, that even though all she did was for revenge, using Tej Uncleji as means, somewhere she had thought that an affair of so many years would have some meaning for Tej Uncleji. But Sultana, despite being so wise, had misjudged men. Men were always selfish and fickle.
"Di, I'll go and do the rest of the formalities as your family to get you released from here" said Soumya, looking relieved, and going outside to finish rest of the formalities.
Svetlana and Gauri were left alone in the room.
"Don't you want to know whether that video of Omkara was real or not?" asked Svetlana, with a cunning look in her eyes.
"I'm not curious, frankly. But from your tone, you want to tell me" said Gauri.
"If I say that he actually assaulted me, would you believe me?" asked Svetlana testily.
"Sexual assault is not a joke, Sultanaji. I always, always, want to believe the victim, but if they are lying, then my anger can be terrible, because it comes from a genuine place of being nearly harassed myself" said Gauri, softly, remembering Kali Thakur's tortures not so many months ago.
Svetlana could feel the simmering rage in her voice, and thought it better to spill the truth.
"He never did anything. I lured him, blackmailed him, to come to that cottage. The moment he entered, I, with the help of a hired goon, hit him. He regained consciousness briefly, when we made that video where he tries to get the damaging clip of Prinku from me, but then he fainted again. He's such a weakling" taunted Svetlana.
But Gauri didn't take the bait. Let her taunt the Oberois as much as she wants. Thats all she can do anyways, thought Gauri.
The both looked around the room vaguely, not knowing what to do now.
Surprisingly, Svetlana held out her hand.
"It was nice doing business with you, at least you were a formidable foe" said Svetlana.
Gauri looked at her suspiciously and shook her hand. "I am not your foe, Sultana. I have no fight with you. I just..."
"Love your sister. And the Oberoi family. Tell me is your marriage with that Omkara real?" asked Svetlana.
Gauri shook her head.
"Good for you. Maybe you can learn something from my experience, and more importantly from Jahnvi's. Like father, like son" said Svetlana.
Gauri withdrew her hand, and said, "I think we have spoken enough" and she made a move to leave the room.
But just as she was leaving, Svetlana came close to her, and bend a little.
"I know they are listening outside, so I had to stand near you. Don't trust the Oberois, your father went missing after the Kalyani Mills fire, and when I was digging up dirt on the Oberois, the first thing that came up was the fire and how the Oberois suddenly got rich after the mill burnt down" whispered Svetlana, so that only Gauri could hear her.
"Take care" smirked Svetlana, as she exited the room, leaving Gauri behind in a muddle of thoughts.